Instituto Camões
Founded | 1924 |
---|---|
Founder | Government of Portugal |
Type | Cultural institution |
Headquarters | Seixas Palace Marquis of Pombal Square Lisbon, Portugal |
Area served | Worldwide |
Product | Portuguese cultural education |
Key people | President Luís Faro Ramos Vice-President Gonçalo Teles Gomes |
Website | Instituto Camões |
The Instituto Camões (
Originating in the early 20th century as the Portuguese Institute for High Culture, the institution restructured with a greater linguistic focus in 1980, and absorbed the
History
The Instituto Camões was named in honour of Luís de Camões, a poet of the Portuguese Renaissance and author of Os Lusíadas, considered to be the national epic of Portugal and the Portuguese language. The Instituto Camões head office is headquartered at Seixas Palace, a 19th-century mansion on Marquis of Pombal Square, in Lisbon, Portugal.
The institution has its roots in the Junta da Educação Nacional, founded in 1924 to grant scholarships, funds, and grants to foreign universities and institutions that promoted Portuguese language education.
In 1936, the institution's role was expanded to include the promotion of
In 1980, the institution's mission was refocused on language and renamed the Institute of Portuguese Culture and Language (Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa). The institution took its current name, after the Portuguese Renaissance author Luís Vaz de Camões, in 1992.
In 2005, the Instituto Camões received the
In 2012, the Instituto Camões absorbed the Portuguese Institute for Development Support, the development aid agency of the Government of Portugal. Since then, Instituto Camões operates with a wider mission of promoting Portuguese language, culture, and aid across the world.
Structure
Portuguese Language Centers
The Institute's Portuguese Language Centres (Centros de Língua Portuguesa or CLP) aim to promote the Portuguese language as well as co-operation with different countries in the field of education, including those where Portuguese is already spoken. This is in contrast to Spain's Instituto Cervantes, which is only represented in non-Spanish-speaking countries.
New centres are presently being established in
Angola: Benguela, Lubango, and Luanda |
|
Portuguese Cultural Centres
The Institute's Portuguese cultural centres (Centros culturais portugueses) are centres whose aim is the promotion of cultural relations between Portugal and other countries, including those with which Portugal has strong historical and cultural ties, and where Portuguese is already widely spoken. Like in language centres' counterparts, this is in contrast to Spain's Instituto Cervantes, which is only represented in non-Spanish-speaking countries.
Angola (Luanda) |
India (New Delhi) |
See also
- Portuguese language
- Portuguese literature
- Portuguese poetry
- Lusophone
- Lusitanic
- Music of Portugal
- Lusophone music
- Portuguese cuisine
- Lusophony Games
- Culture of Portugal
- Architecture of Portugal
- Community of Portuguese Language Countries
- Geographic distribution of the Portuguese language
- List of countries where Portuguese is an official language
- List of international organisations which have Portuguese as an official language
- Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP)
- International Association of Portuguese-Speaking Communications
External links
- Official website (in Portuguese)